Ichigo 100 percent Atarashii Gakusei
by Li Zhi Wei-sama
Summary: This is my newest project A continuation of the original Ichigo 100 by Mizuki Kawashita which takes place four years after Junpei Manaka and his friends graduated from Izumizaka High. New main cast and returning characters! Please read and review.
1. Volume 1 Character Intro

This is my newest fanfiction project: Ichigo 100 - Atarashii no Gakusen (The new student)

Original Ichigo 100 characters copyright Mizuki Kawashita (kudos to this person for thinking up the foundation for my fanfiction), Characters Takeshi Kitahara, Aiko Tatsuma, Kousei Tachibana, Ryomi Chizuka and the Invincible 8 Warriors copyrighted by me (I was the one who created these people…!)

If you cannot see the Japanese Kanji properly switch your page encoding to Shift-JIS please.

**Character Description**

Takeshi Kitahara北原　武16 years oldborn 14 Jan

Takeshi is the new student that arrives in Izumizaka High School four years after Junpei Manaka and his friends graduated. Well-versed in Martial Arts, he joins the two-year-old Martial Arts Club soon after his entry into this high school. He is the only student in Izumizaka High that is allowed to carry weapons – a pair of legendary long-bladed knives – into the school. His speciality is the knuckle and knife techniques.

Born into a family of bloodshed, he develops a deep hatred for anything that is unjust and will crush anyone doing unjust things with his "KaiXuan(凱旋)" double blades (the long-bladed knives) hung on both sides of his belt. This earned him the nickname "Modern Battousai".

It is known that the knives have a life of its own and has merged with Takeshi's spirit to form a formidable fighting force in upholding justice for this high school. Takeshi also has a hidden power in which he can magnify his strength, speed and ability to take on the bullies in the school.

Junpei Manaka later meets up with Takeshi and becomes his mentor, imparting experience whenever necessary to cope with high school life there.

Aiko Tatsuma達真　愛子16 years oldborn 27 Jul

16-year-old Aiko is adopted by Aya Toujou one year ago as a younger god-sister and enrols in Izumuzaka High. More shy then Aya, she is sometimes scared of people because of her past experiences. But after the rescue attempt by Takeshi and Junpei in the sports hall, Aiko starts to realise that she has a crush on Takeshi after she saw his "soft side". She joins the Film Club as a new member as she wants to make films like Junpei does before. By the time she confesses to Takeshi, Junpei's girlfriend Tsukasa Nishino is unexpectedly killed in a car accident. She was the first one to see the Invincible 8 Warriors descend onto their world to investigate the matter. And for the rest of the time, Aiko and Takeshi worked together to bring Junpei and Aya together so that they can move on in life after the accident.

Kousei Tachibana　橘　高生17 years oldborn 19 Aug

Kousei is a second-year student in Izumizaka High, and falls in love (at first sight) with Aiko because of her shy personality (Yes, you can say that he's the original story's Amachi), and will go all out to break the relationship between Takeshi and Aiko. He belongs to the Literature Club where Aya is an alumni and hopes to win Aiko's heart with his (mediocre) writing skills.

Ryomi Chizuka智塚　淳美16 years oldborn 5 Nov

Ryomi is like the original story's Satsuki Kitaooji and Chinami Hashimoto in one – A rich girl that constantly wants attention, especially from Takeshi (of all people in this school!) after she mistook his kindness for love. She will also go all out to win Takeshi's heart by trying to give herself to him. So expect a lot of ecchi scenes that'll make Takeshi very disgusted about her!

Plus, the old characters are coming back too!

Junpei Manaka真中　淳平22 years old

Junpei Manaka is the original story's hero, but now he takes on a "consultative" role in this continuation fiction.

He mentors Takeshi as he goes on to high school. He takes time off from his filming to take care of Takeshi when he's out of school.

Aya Toujou東城　綾22 years old

One of the original story's heroines, Aya takes in Aiko last year and she lives with her during that time. When she enrols into Izumizaka High, Aiko helps out Junpei in making films here.

Tsukasa Nishino西野　つかさ22 years old

Tsukasa finally found her true love in Junpei, but fate has other plans in the sense that a seemingly freak accident took Tsukasa's life away irrecoverably, making Junpei cry for three whole days. The Invincible 8 Warriors came down here to investigate the case and came to a unbelievable conclusion. The real cause behind the accident is…

More characters will come up during the course of this fanfiction!


	2. Volume 1 Chapter 1

Chapter One – The New Student

It was the first day of school at Izumizaka High.

Everybody is excited to see their new friends at this school. But when one person comes through the door, everybody's attention were diverted to him…

Now everybody's quiet, their eyes fixed onto that person walking briskly but steadily towards the sports complex where the new school year begins. However, some were talking amongst themselves about this new high school student.

"Look at that guy wearing spectacles…" said one of the onlooking students.

"That must be the school's most feared student…" one student whispered to another.

"Look! What's he wearing on his belt…?" another student whispered to his friend. "Weapons?"

"…I thought weapons are banned in school…?" that student's friend whispered back.

"…but looks like he has special permission to have these weapons…" replied the second student.

It seems like these new students are talking about him, but he does not even turn to them at all. Instead, his eyes are full of a murderous look, seemingly ready to strike anytime. But he just walked towards the sports hall without minding them.

After the opening ceremony and the principal's speech, this student walks to see where his class is.

"Class 5…" this teenager said to himself.

This shocked some of the new students, and possibly some seniors.

"Oh no…! There's going to be trouble brewing in Year 1 Class 5…" the seniors agreed.

In Class 1-5…

Everybody in this class were chatting with each other, except for the teenager who just went into the classroom. He is the one with the two knives on his belt. Carrying two bags (one backpack and one handcarry), he walked to the end of the classroom and sat down at the seat on the furthermost right, facing the window.

After he sat down, he began in reminiscence of the time before he was admitted into Izumizaka High…

"Are you sure about that?" the principal asked him. "…bringing your knives to study here…"

"I don't have a choice." The student replied back. "…all my bodyguards are killed in an instant by some unknown force. Even your guards will be defenceless against those forces. That's why I applied for an international licence to use weapons and firearms to protect myself. If I want to study here peacefully I have to be on high alert in case someone attacks me from behind."

"I understand your situation, but I just cannot bend the rules to allow you to bring those weapons to school you know." The principal added. "Furthermore, what if you hurt someone with them?"

"I assure you I will not use them on anyone unless it's absolutely necessary." The teenager said further.

Then suddenly, the discipline master came into the principal's office.

"I understand what he is thinking." The discipline master commented. "I heard that your bodyguards are highly skilled, but yet they still got killed in an instant, so I couldn't imagine what will happen to him if he did not arm himself. In addition, he has a licence to own and use those knives so he won't abuse it because if he do his licence will be revoked."

"But…" the principal tries to argue.

"I know that bringing weapons to Izumizaka High School is against the rules, but we also have problems of our own in terms of students bullying juniors here and also bribery among students."

"You're right, but that doesn't mean that we must use force against those people." The principal protested against the student using his knives in school.

"I've got a testimonial from his homeroom teacher in the middle school that he attended before. You should also have a copy of that too. The discipline master added to his backing of the teenager before he refers to the testimonial that the student's former school sent them.

Parts of it wrote: With his help we're able to greatly reduce the offences rate of the school. In addition, by the time he graduates, he is respected by the good students and feared by the bad ones. Even our disciplinary head couldn't do such a similar feat.

"So I hope he can do something similar in here so that we can earn back our reputation as a school. You know that we're facing falling enrolment rates because of the bad reputation that we had for the past three years. I'll assure him with my post as a disciplinary head that he won't abuse his right to use weapons in school." He said with a bow. "Please allow him to help us beat those rotten apples so that we don't need to close down because of a bad track record!"

The principal immediately tells the discipline master to stop bowing and hear him out.

"Looks like we have to try him out for a period of time before we can decide if he can keep bringing his weapons here." The principal arrived at a conclusion. The discipline master agreed and put his hand on the teenager's shoulder.

"Now whether I can keep my job depends on you." The disciplinary head told him. "…if you can control these bad apples I can appeal for you to keep your weapons with you until you graduate from here."

The teenager nodded, and left the principal's office after that, which ended his reminiscence of what happened before he was enrolled into the school. But before he can be ready for his first lesson in his high school life…

"Important announcement! Will student Kitahara Takeshi please come to the disciplinary room immediately!"

"Looks like I'm needed there…" he thought to himself as he gets up and walks out of the classroom.

During the trip, he heard the chattering of the students around him…

"So his name is Kitahara, huh?" one student said softly to her friend. "I wonder what the discipline master wants with him…"

"…maybe it's because of the things he brought to school…?" her friend asked the student back.

End of Chapter 01


	3. Volume 1 Chapter 2

Chapter 02 – The First Mission

Inside the discipline master's office…

"Look at this, Kitahara-kun." The disciplinary head showed Takeshi pictures of students from different levels.

"These are the blacklisted people who have committed offences like bribery and bullying. Look carefully." He described the details of the students in the blacklist. And one particular student catches his eye.

He then asks the discipline master: "How did this person get blacklisted?"

"He was blacklisted for extorting protection money from the first year students." is the reply from the head himself. "But I just can't get evidence to put him to justice, so I need you first to get evidence of his wrongdoing for me so that I can expose him."

Time shifts to the afternoon where it's lunch break. Takeshi went to the male toilet to relieve himself, but as soon as he goes into the cubicle and locks the door, he hears some sounds coming from outside the cubicle.

"Footsteps…" was the thought that ran in Takeshi's mind when he hear those sounds.

He starts to take out his camera phone and sets it to video recording mode, but did not record anything immediately. Instead, he uses his arms to pull himself up above the height of the cubicle door. There he sees a young student standing outside the cubicle next to him. He looks to his right and saw the door of that cubicle is open.

"He must've waited for someone… but I have a weird feeling about this…!" thought Takeshi, and lowered himself down. But soon after, he heard the sound of the toilet flush and the opening of the door heard more clearly with his left ear.

Afterwards Takeshi heard a conversation ongoing which made him suspicious, so he raised his head over the door and saw a big-sized person talking to the young student that was outside the same cubicle before.

As he listens on, he start to realize that the big-sized person is forcing the young student to give 3000 yen to him. Takeshi immediately stands on the covered toilet bowl and started filming the conversation secretly until the big-sized guy walked out of the male toilet.

Takeshi then quickly came out of the cubicle after hiding his camera phone and approached the young student.

"Are you a first-year student?" Takeshi asked the young student.

The student nodded his head.

"I would never thought that I would meet such a bad person!" he said sadly with an angry tone.

"Is his surname Fujiyama? That guy who forced you to give him money?" Takeshi asked again to the new student.

The student nodded once again. Then Takeshi put his hand on the student's shoulder.

"I hope you can help me identify that person when we have the evidence to catch him." He told the young student, asking for the student's cooperation.

Later at the discipline master's office, Takeshi showed him the video clip which depicted Fujiyama extorting the young student's money.

"Without a doubt, that's him all right." The disciplinary head said after watching the video. "No wonder we can't get any evidence of his wrongdoing. I think we are ready to catch him…"

"…and teach him a lesson he'll never forget!" Takeshi completed what the discipline master said. "But we need to get that student in the video to help point out the culprit."

The next day, the disciplinary head caught Fujiyama trying to extort more money from a female first-year student, but Fujiyama showed his strength to him by showing his muscles, however…

"…is that all you've got, Fujiyama?" a student walked up the stairs to reach where the discipline master is, with the previous victim following him. That person is Takeshi.

"We have evidence that you're forcing people to give you money, is that right?" Takeshi questioned Fujiyama sternly. "And we have now caught you red-handed!"

"Did you ate guts or something!" Fujiyama sneered at Takeshi's size. "Don't you know who you're up against? Huh?"

But Takeshi didn't care about what he said at all!

"I think you don't know who you're dealing with…" Takeshi replied calmly but seriously.

"Hah! Even the discipline master is afraid of me now, and you don't?" Fujiyama tries to make Takeshi retreat, but Takeshi just walked a few steps towards him.

"You're nothing but a giant load of trash that needs to be thoroughly cleaned up!" Takeshi declared.

And this really makes Fujiyama angry.

"And now I'll show you who's the load of trash!" Fujiyama declared to Takeshi, and charged with his punch aiming at his face. Meanwhile, Takeshi gets ready to draw his two knives for a counter-attack. In a flash, he was dashing right towards Fujiyama and immediately draws his knives to fight back.

"Phantom Cutter!"

(effect: monotone screen with two long horizontal knife cuts)

The scene is frozen for five seconds while Takeshi reappears behind where Fujiyama stopped (and in front of the girl who just got her money extorted). After the five seconds, Fujiyama fell to the ground motionless and Takeshi begins withdrawing his knives back to their holders. This amazed not only the discipline master and the young student, but everyone who has looked at the scene were speechless at how powerful Takeshi can be at taking down that school bully.

Meanwhile, a young girl with hair down to her shoulders was also amazed at how it happened.

"So that's Kitahara… nicknamed the Modern Battousai…" this young girl thought to herself.

"No way…! That speed and attack power…" her friend was equally amazed at his skills.

"This can't be…" the disciplinary head went towards Fujiyama. "…will he die…?"

Takeshi shook his head, and said: "That bully will wake up in about ten minutes' time."

During the ten minutes, the three of them brought the unconscious bully to the discipline room. And when he woke up, his neck was near the sharp edge of Takeshi's big knife which scared the hell out of him.

"Speak!" Takeshi looked very furious. "Who asked you to extort money from the juniors! Where does the money you got from them go to?"

Initially, he wouldn't speak, but over time he revealed that he gave most of the money to a gang of high school dropouts loitering in the town area and he kept the little amount remaining himself.

"Darn! When did this area become infested with gangsters…!" Takeshi growled at Fujiyama's relevation. "What exactly happened? Wasn't this place safe here before?"

"Actually…" the discipline master explained to Takeshi what happened to Izimizaka High some time before.

Three years ago, Izumizaka High is one of the most respected schools in the area because of the Film Club and the Literature Club brought glory to the high school (the Film Club produced a award-winning film-maker and photographer Junpei Manaka; while the Literature Club produced another award-winning novelist Aya Toujou), but ever since a armed gang moved their base near this school, both Izumizaka High and the nearby Oumi High faced falling enrolment rates because students there might face dangers posed by the gangsters such as extortion and molestation. The gang themselves have weapons that they carry around (without any licences to own them): One has a machete, another has a sub-machine gun, and three others have metal bats.

"So there are five members in the gang… and all are high school dropouts?" Takeshi probed further.

"Each of them are dropouts from one of the high schools in the area, and that includes Izumizaka High and Oumi High." The discipline master replied his query.

"So there's a female in this gang too, since Oumi High is an all-girls high school…" Takeshi concluded.

"And they usually move around seperately or in twos so that they can disperse quickly even if they're outnumbered, and even if one or two of the members are caught, the rest are still able to get their members out of the police station. That's why we fear them so much that we have little control over the discipline in our school…" The disciplinary head explained further worriedly.

But by then Takeshi's fists had already been tightened to the fullest extent, and the discipline master noticed that the knife holders on his belt are vibrating very vigourously.

"What happened to your weapons…?" the discipline master asked Takeshi.

Takeshi sighed, and explained: "These KaiXuan Double Blades have a life of its own. When they sense something unjust, they vibrate very vigourously; the more unjust the incident is, the harder they vibrate. In addition, they are connected to my soul and mind, so the blades' vibrations reflect what I'm thinking right now."

The discipline master looked on as the knives vibrated continuously.

After that, Takeshi went out of the disciplinary room and returned to class.

"If I don't uproot this gang of terror, many schools in this area will suffer…!" He thought as he went back to class.

End of Chapter 02


	4. Volume 1 Chapter 3

Chapter 03 – The Counter-Attack

For the next two days, Izumizaka High is all peaceful sounding. But inside the disciplinary room, Takeshi and the disciplinary head discussed plans to take down the armed gang loitering in the area so as to return the two high schools peace permanently.

"We'll need the help from the police to stop this gang. What we'll need to do is to get all the gang members at once because if we only get less than that the others will get that arrested member out of the police station." Takeshi explained to the discipline master about the plan. "If we can just get all five of the members at once they'll have no chance of escape!"

The discipline master agreed with him, and gave him some places that the gang might appear. Takeshi looked carefully at those points on the map, and told the discipline master to get in touch with the police stationed in the area.

"What we need is the right timing and the right place to take them down." Takeshi said to the discipline master. "May I ask you: Usually when do this gang ask for payment?"

"On the eighteenth of every month, Kitahara-kun." That was the reply from the discipline master.

"That's next Tuesday…" Takeshi calculated in his mind about the date given to him.

"Okay, I'll try to discuss my plan next Monday in detail so I hope you can try to keep in touch with the police there. We need enough people to stop those five at once." Takeshi said in conclusion of this meeting.

"It's all right for me." The discipline master replied. "We'll meet next Monday."

And Takeshi left the disciplinary room after the meeting concluded.

Five days passed, and the time finally arrived to bring this notorious gang to justice!

The gang members are walking near Oumi High when they saw a Izumizaka student standing outside the guard-laden gates of Oumi High School.

"Hey! Isn't that the student we asked him to get money from the students last week?" one of the gang members exclaimed. "He is supposed to pay up by today…"

But this student quickly ran away upon seeing them and disappeared soon after. The gang members gave chase, but the student was nowhere to be found. Just then, one of the gang members saw the student they're after going through the Izumizaka High School gates.

"He's not going anywhere…!" Another gang member said slyly as he led the others to chase to the Izumuzaka High School gates. But as soon as all five members went inside the school compound the electronic gates closed by themselves and they couldn't get out.

"What the…!" the gang leader said shockingly, seemingly annoyed by the "trap" the school set up for them. But just as they try to think of a way out…

"…I think you've just gotten yourselves into deep trouble by trying to exploit the students here!" someone declared at them after walking to the spot outside the main school building. The gang turned their backs and saw Takeshi standing behind them, looking very murderous.

"There he comes…" the young student that Takeshi saved thought as he saw Takeshi faced the notorious gang all by himself. "…the modern Battousai…"

"Who are you anyway!" The gangleader asked Takeshi snobbishly. "Who are you to stop us?"

Takeshi thought for a while.

"I think your wayward days are over from today!" Takeshi declared again.

"What!" The gangleader seemed with a mix of shock and sarcasm. "Are you threatening us! Even the Martial Arts Club is afraid of us, and you don't!"

"Not in the least." Replied Takeshi, and draws his blades a little.

"Hm! You asked for this…!" the female gang member declared and charged at Takeshi.

But Takeshi did not even flinch, instead he grabs the handle of his blades and dashes right at her.

"Houraizan!" (Raging Thunder Slash)

(effect: black screen with horizontal bolt-shaped slice mark across)

Takeshi reappears behind the charging gang member after he finishes his move, and seconds later she fell to the ground motionless which shocked the other four gangsters.

"No way!" The gangleader exclaimed. "There's no way he could do that…!"

"You want to try some more?" Takeshi posed a challenge to them all.

"Why you…!" said a raging gangleader, and led the other three to attack him at the same time.

One of the gang members rapid-fires at Takeshi with his sub-machine gun, but he dodges all of them in an instant. When he is visible again he is right in front of the gangster with the machine gun and quickly punches the gangster's hand, knocking the gun out of there and Takeshi immediately slices it into half with his blade. All this was done within three seconds!

Just then, that gangster realizes that his sub-machine gun has been missing, but by then he was ricocheting to another gangster with a metal bat. By the time the targeted gang member realizes that he is targeted, most of his bat has already been sliced off by one of Takeshi's KaiXuan blades, but he couldn't catch Takeshi after his bat got cut into two. By then Takeshi has already dismantled the third gang member's metal bat before dashing towards the gang leader who is holding the machete. This gang leader also did not realize that he's now being targeted before Takeshi knocks the weapon off his hand with the handle base of the KaiXuan blade, then Takeshi returns to the spot where he began his assault before the gang members realizes that all their weapons are gone. This took only twenty-two seconds!

By the time they see Takeshi back at the spot and his blades withdrawn, he has already closed his eyes and concentrating his energy.

"Time to intensify the battle!" Takeshi thought as he is gathering his energy. "I'll need this energy now to take them down!"

"There he is! Take him down!" The gangleader ordered his members to attack him. But Takeshi has finished concentrating his energy and the minute he reopens his eyes, they turned blood-red (which means Takeshi's powers are magnified in all aspects)!

However, the gang still continued their attacks, thinking they can give him a direct hit. But this is where they'll be proven wrong! Takeshi also dashes right at them, but at an unimaginably fast speed. When he approaches them he has already drawn his blades for a more powerful technique.

"Danyoujin!" (Blade of the Broken Leaves)

(effect: black screen with numerous slice marks all over the screen)

This technique lasts for a minute and stops when he reappears behind the gang, and a few seconds later all five members fell to the ground together without any motion on them. This means the end of the notorious gang's tyrannical ways. The electronic gates open and the police were led in to capture the unconscious gang members all at once.

At this time, most of the students from both high schools were applauding for Takeshi for taking down the menace. This time Takeshi has returned to normal and walks back into the school building, which ended the battle with Takeshi victorious.

The next day in the morning, Takeshi arrived at the notice board where a small crowd gathers round there.

"What happened there?" Takeshi asked one of the students.

"The school's going to select students to pair up with the alumni students. Many people are hoping to be mentees of the two students on the poster!" the student replied Takeshi's query.

Takeshi tried to have a close look at the poster, but was squeezed away by the crowd, so he decided to come back here during lunchtime. While he decided that, he heard chattering from the crowd.

"Wow… I can't believe that she's in this project too…!" one student from the crowd exclaimed. "I wish that she can be my mentor!"

"I hope that I can be his mentee!" said a female voice from the same crowd.

When Takeshi returned to the spot where the poster is during lunchtime, the crowd has dissipated and he used this chance to find out what exactly is happening.

What the poster said was that selected first-year students will be paired up with former students of the school and they can exchange pointers about school life. And the poster has numerous faces on it, including Manaka Junpei and Toujou Aya.

"This means they're participating in this project too…" thought Takeshi. "I wonder if I get to join this…"

End of Chapter 03


	5. Volume 1 Chapter 4

Chapter 04 – Meeting of Old and New Faces

Foreword from author: This chapter marks the introduction of two familiar characters into the fanfiction – one pair with opposite personalities while one is the magnified version ofanother in this pairing. So I wanted to use the familiar characters' personalities to bring out the real people in the two new characters. I apologise if I wasn't successful, and also for the abrupt ending of this chapter because it is quite a long one and I've got to end the chapter somewhere.

Two hours later, Takeshi was called to the principal's office.  
"You called me?" Takeshi asked the principal the minute he sat down.  
"Yes." The principal replied. "First I need to say that I'm impressed at how you took care of the gangsters that are threathening our school's security. And for the second thing, I'm pleased to inform you that you're participating in the alumni mentorship project."  
"What? You mean that poster out there is…" Takeshi said, seemingly surprised.  
"Yes. That poster is to inform the students that we'll be pairing up selected students with the alumni of Izumizaka High, and you're one of the selected students to take part. In fact, we only select forty students from the whole of first-year students to partner the alumni for the whole of their school life here." The principal explained to him.  
But Takeshi doesn't seem happy about it.

_"I wonder…"_ he thought to himself before thinking of the words they said about the poster:

(extracted from chapter 03)  
"_Wow… I can't believe that she's in this project too…!" one student from the crowd exclaimed. "I wish that she can be my mentor!"  
_"_I hope that I can be his mentee!" said a female voice from the same crowd.  
_"…_but whoever he or she is, I have to be careful!"_ Takeshi continued thinking as he walks out of the principal's office.

The next day in the morning, a teacher went into Class 1-5 to give out letters to inform those selected students of whom they're mentored from next Monday onwards. Takeshi received his letter from the teacher-in charge that came in to give out the letters.

During lunchtime, some of his classmates came to Takeshi's desk where he sits.

"Um… Kitahara?" one of his classmates calls him.  
"Yes?" Takeshi gave his usual murderous look at them.  
"Um… we would like to know who you're… pairing with in the project…?" another classmate asks him with a little fear in him.  
"You mean… the mentorship project, right?" Takeshi asks back.  
All three of his classmates nodded their heads in response.  
Takeshi took out the letter that was given to him and opened it. When he look at the name of the person that was assigned to him in the letter, his eyes suddenly flattened (means that he is getting very serious).  
"Well… who…is it…?" the third student asked him.  
Takeshi flipped his letter to show them the name on it, which made the three shocked in horror as they did not expect this.  
"What…? No way it's him…!" all three students exclaimed at sight of the name in there.

Two days passed, and the students are discussing something when Takeshi walks down the walkway outside the classrooms. As soon as he does that, the topic that the students are talking changed immediately.

"Look! The modern Battousai…" one student exclaimed in secret.  
"I wouldn't have believed it myself! He's got himself the hottest pairing of the whole first-year students…!" another whispered.  
"Looks like bad news travel fast…!" Takeshi thought as he walks down the walkway, seeing the face of those students that are not selected for the pilot project. Then he looks at the letter and in the end of it, wrote a familiar name to those Ichigo 100 readers: Manaka Junpei.

"No way! He's going to partner up with Manaka-senpai?" A female student asked her friend with shoulder-length hair.  
"I guess anything could happen…" the student with shoulder-length hair replied sadly.

A few days later, Sunday arrived. Takeshi went to a person's home to visit. But it was no ordinary person's house that he goes to. However, when he rings the doorbell, there was no answer. So he went to the park to find him. But before he starts his search, someone calls out to him.

"Hey! Are you Kitahara Takeshi?" a voice calls out from behind.  
This alarmed Takeshi and he quickly holds the handles of his blades, seemingly ready to draw them out.  
"Who's that? Show yourself!" he barked out.  
"I'm behind you." The voice continued. Suddenly a video camera pops out of nowhere and a grown-up guy appeared near where Takeshi stood. This forced Takeshi to change to a fighting stance to brace up for a counter-attack, thus showing his murderous look. This was captured by the grown-up guy's camera viewfinder, which in turn shocked his guts out!  
"Aaaaahhhhh!" the grown-up guy screamed. "Don't kill me! Don't kill me! I promise I won't make you angry again, promise!"  
The grown-up guy kept bowing to Takeshi with his hands clasped.

"What happened…?" Takeshi asks him, feeling uneasy about this person. "Stop this nonsense!"  
"Huh?" the grown-up guy stopped what he's doing, and slowly look up to see the Takeshi in front of him.  
It seems like the murderous look is still there, but he doesn't seem angry.  
"Uh… sorry about that…" the grown-up guy apologised. "…it's just my old work problem, I am really scared when I see scary faces…"  
"Why are you tailing me? And why are you holding a video camera?" Takeshi asked the grown-up guy back.  
"Um…" the grown-up guy was speechless for a while, then answers back. "…I just wanted to get some inspiration to film in, and also to look for someone…"  
"You mean… you're looking for me?" Takeshi wasn't convinced. "How did you know my name?"  
"Um… I just saw your knives on your belt…" the grown-up guy pointed to the KaiXuan Blades hung on Takeshi's belt.  
"So you're…" Takeshi seems to remember something…  
"Yes. I'm supposed to find this person…" the grown-up guy said, and took out a letter similar to what Takeshi has, but with Takeshi's name on it instead.  
"So you're… Manaka Junpei-san, right?" Takeshi asks this final question.  
"Now you know who I am!" Junpei said while finally smiling, but Takeshi doesn't feel it at the least, and shakes his head.

Meanwhile, in another house at another part of the city, a girl with shoulder-length hair rings the doorbell and someone comes to open the door. When the young woman inside opens the door for this girl she seemed surprised.

"Aiko-chan! How come you are here?" the young woman asked her.  
"I couldn't believe it either! The school placed me with you as my mentor." Aiko replied back in a surprised tone. "But I'm worried…"  
"Come. Let's go in and we'll have a little talk, okay?" the young woman invited Aiko in and closed the door.

When they sat down on the sofa Aiko seems a little troubled.

"I…" Aiko stammered. "I… am worried that if I'm placed under your mentorship, Aya-oneechan, then... will they laugh at me…?"  
"Of course not, Aiko-chan." Aya assured her. "But honestly, I'm surprised too you know… to mentor my own god-sister. But don't worry, I'll still treat you as my sister, okay?"  
This calmed Aiko, and starts to smile slowly.  
"Oh! I forgot to bring drinks for you! Can you please wait for a while?" Aya said, and went into the kitchen to bring out some drinks for Aiko.

Back to the scene at the park, Takeshi and Junpei sat down on one of the chairs in the park, and they started to talk.

"I couldn't believe that you can bring those weapons to school, you know." Junpei said, curious at his KaiXuan Blades hung on both sides on his waistbelt. "But what happened to you that you have to bring those knives wherever you go?"  
"My bodyguards are killed in an instant by some force that was unknown to me, so I have to arm myself for self-protection." Takeshi explained briefly. "Why did you ask?"  
"Not for a particular reason actually…" Junpei said with a silly smile on his face. "But as far as I understand, there is one famous warrior that I would hope to film on… Do you know about the famous bladesman last year? The one who made headlines by taking down the bullies from his middle school?"  
Takeshi thought for a while, and nodded his head.  
"I have some impression about this person…" he replied.

"_But how does he know about my past…?"_ Takeshi thought while replying to Junpei's question.

"By the way…" Junpei asked Takeshi. "…I heard that you helped arrest the gangsters that are threatening Izumizaka High's safety. I would never think that after so many years, the school went down to such a state…"

"_Although I don't know much about the past of Izumizaka High, but if there's trouble I'll be the first one to supress it!"_ was what Takeshi's thinking when Junpei commented that the school has gone to such a mess.

Meanwhile at Aya's home, Aiko was sipping some cold drink that Aya gave her, and talked about the happenings in Izumizaka High.

"Did you know that there's a modern Battousai in our school?" Aiko asked Aya.  
"I've never heard of a modern Battousai before, but I've heard about a famous crime-buster student last year from one of the middle schools around here. It seems like this person has two knives on his waist." Aya said, recollecting what happened last year.  
"The modern Battousai I've seen before also has two big knives hung on his belt too!" Aiko reported.  
Just then, the two women seemed to find a connection between what happened a year ago and the incident with the gangsters days ago.  
"Is it possible that… the crime-buster student… is what you called the 'Modern Battousai'…?" Aya shockingly asked. "By the way, did you know his real name?"  
"I think it's called Kitahara something…" Aiko answered. "…and if I'm correct, he's also in this mentorship project too…"  
"So do you know who his mentor is?" Aya asked again, seemingly concerned about this Kitahara person.  
Aiko thought for a while, then answered a name that sound too familiar to her: Manaka Junpei.  
This made Aya speechless and surprised.

"_Manaka-kun…"_ Aya thought about her crush for many years. And in fact, she still hasn't gotten over him even until now.

Back at the park, silence envelops both Junpei and Takeshi, but it was Junpei who breaks the silence by offering his hand for a handshake. But just at this moment…

"Help! Robbery!" a voice screamed from outside the park.  
Someone is getting away to the main road with a woman's handbag and hopped onto a motorcycle in an attempt to escape the scene. Both Takeshi and Junpei heard the woman's screams and ran towards her.

"Takeshi-kun, I'll try to find information while you catch the one on the motorcycle." Junpei instructed him.  
Takeshi nodded, and immediately went to the main road where the motorcycle is escaping on.

"That robber took my handbag and went off in a motorcycle!" the woman said to Junpei while crying. Junpei immediately relayed the message to Takeshi, and alerted him about the motorcycle that went out has the woman's handbag.  
Upon hearing that, Takeshi draws both his KaiXuan Blades and joins their handle ends together.

"_Wow! This is good material…!"_ thought Junpei as he quickly prepares his camcorder for filming.

With his combined blade, Takeshi throws it like a boomerang and the blade spins quickly while moving at a very fast speed towards the motorcycle. While the robber and the runner on the motorcycle sees through its rear mirror that something is approaching very quickly, they start to panic and quickly raised their legs just in time for the double-sided blade to rip through the motorcycle into two parts, causing it to explode and push both of them nearer to Takeshi's location.

Just at this time, Takeshi has gathered his energy and his eyes turned blood red, which sends thunder through his right arm and generates a ball of energy on the palm of his right hand. He grabs the energy and this enhances his power to attack.

"Earth Crusher!"

Takeshi punches the road with all the power in his right hand, and the ground starts to tremble and crack towards the two baddies who stole the woman's handbag. When the crack reaches them, a brown earth-made knuckle drives out, hitting the two baddies further towards Takeshi. And at this time, the joined blade has returned to him and immediately dashes forward for another blade technique.

"Shipuuzan!" (Whirlwind Slash)

Takeshi spins his combined blade while dashing, causing a human-sized hurricane to form around him. When the hurricane reaches the baddies, he directs the hurricane upwards which lifted them and slices them at the same time. This lasts for ninety seconds, and Takeshi immediately jumps right through the baddies while slashing them with his combined blade. When he finishes his move, the baddies remained motionless, then they fell the moment Takeshi withdraws his blades back to their holders.

All these actions were recorded into Junpei's camcorder without Takeshi knowing it (in fact, Junpei started recording the minute Takeshi draws his blades!).

Minutes later, the police arrived at the scene and arrested the robber and his runner for robbing the woman's handbag. The woman thanked Takeshi and Junpei, together with the police officers, for returning her handbag.

After the incident, both Junpei and Takeshi walked together as their homes are on the same direction. But they are deep in thought. Junpei is thinking of the scene he recorded, while Takeshi is thinking why he got paired up with Junpei in the first place.

"_That was powerful…! The moves… the techniques… everything! Just like the crime-buster I saw last year!"_ thought Junpei.  
"_Why the heck do I have to be mentored by him in the first place…?"_ thought Takeshi.

End of Chapter 04


	6. Volume 1 Chapter 5

Chapter 05 – The Rescue Mission

For the next one week, all is peaceful in Izumizaka High. Takeshi is taking his usual walk to the eatery for lunch when someone calls him back.

"Hey there!" a female voice calls out to our main character. "Are you Kitahara the Modern Battousai?"  
Takeshi turned back to see a young woman standing behind him. This young woman had short hair just like Kozue in the original manga.  
"Do I know you…?" Takeshi asked the young woman in school uniform.  
"I suppose you don't know me yet, right?" the young woman asked Takeshi back. "My name is Rinsen Tomomi, Year 1 Class 3. Nice to meet you!"  
Takeshi nodded his head in response.  
"Can I talk to you for a while on the rooftop?" Tomomi asks him.

"_What does she want from me…?"_ thought Takeshi as he tries to answer her. _"It seems like she's not afraid of my face whatsoever…"_

"Okay." Takeshi replied Tomomi, and followed her to the rooftop.  
At the rooftop, Tomomi leans on the barriers of the rooftop and Takeshi stands in front of her.  
"Okay, I shall be frank with you." Tomomi starts her message. "I want to know more about you and why you bring these weapons to school."  
"What are you going to do with the answers?" Takeshi asks back seriously. "Why do you want to get those answers from me directly?"  
Tomomi thought for a while, and decided to tell her real purpose for wanting to see him.  
"Actually… I was helping my friend to find out information from you…" she admitted. "I heard about how you took down the bullies and the gangsters in this school and the neighbouring area, and she wanted to know why you're doing all this…"

"_How does her friend know about me?"_ Takeshi thought as he listens to her explanation for seeing him. _"I thought only the discipline master knew about all this…!"_

"Who is that person who wanted to find out information about me?" Takeshi asked Tomomi.  
"Do you know a person named Tatsuma Aiko?" Tomomi asked our protagionist.  
Takeshi shook his head.  
"No idea." was his answer.  
"She's my friend since middle school, and knows about your dealings before you came here." Tomomi explained. "In fact, she knows you're quite famous for taking down bullies in your middle school days."

"_What?"_ thought Takeshi. _"How come I don't know anything about this…?"_

"Then…" Takeshi asked again. "How long does she know things about me and my past?"  
"About two years already." Tomomi answered. "She was surprised that you went into the same high school as her, you know?"  
Takeshi seems surprised at Tomomi's relevation. Truthfully, there is no one else that has noticed him for so long.  
"But why does she want to come and study here?" Takeshi asked.  
"She wants to emulate one of the alumni students here." Tomomi replied seriously. "In fact, she wants to make films like he does."

"_So she wants to emulate Junpei-san to make films…"_ Takeshi thought as he listens to what Tomomi said to him just now. _"…but why did her friend wants information about me?"_

"The reason that I need to see you is so to know that if you have any information about this Manaka Junpei and how he makes films." Tomomi explained her reason here. "Manaka is your mentor in this mentorship project, right?"  
Takeshi nodded his head.  
"I suppose you have some information about him, right?" Tomomi asked, pushing her luck a little.  
But Takeshi's response was just a shake of his head.  
"What? You know nothing about him?" Tomomi seems shocked. "Didn't he meet you last week?"  
"We did meet last week." Takeshi said as a reply. "But before we get to shake hands, a robbery occurred outside the park, so I stopped the thief and returned the handbag to the victim."  
This angered Tomomi.

"I didn't know you're so anti-social!" she barked at Takeshi. "I wasted my time on you!"  
And she went off downstairs through the door behind him.

"_What did she want to know about Junpei-san and myself in the first place…?"_ thought Takeshi as he sees Tomomi went off through the door. _"If it is what she says, that she's getting the information for her friend named Tatsuma Aiko, then why is it that she can't just ask me herself?"_

Getting tired of his thoughts, Takeshi went downstairs for his lesson. However, he was summoned to the disciplinary room the minute he stepped down onto the fourth level of the building.

"You called for me, sir?" Takeshi first asked as he enters the room.  
"Good timing, Kitahara-kun." The discipline master starts his message for Takeshi. "I need you to deal with one of the gym teachers in this school."  
"What?" Takeshi was seemingly shocked when he hears this. "In here we have bad students, and now we have bad teachers?"  
"Unfortunately yes." The discipline master said, sighing. "There's this teacher who's in charge of the girls' gym classes, and he takes advantage of this time to see his students' breasts."  
By now, Takeshi is growling with anger and his KaiXuan Blades is vibrating vigourously.  
"Right now, we don't have evidence to catch this teacher and give him the appropriate punishment." The discipline master explained. "But we have an eyewitness that has seen the same teacher do similar actions years ago."  
"So who is it?" Takeshi asks a question in a serious manner.  
"I think you know this person actually…" the discipline master replied, and tells the person outside the room to open the door and enter. The sight of the person caught Takeshi by surprise!

"…Junpei-san?" Takeshi describes who the person who came into this room as.  
"…Takeshi-kun?" Junpei was equally surprised at whom he will help in this mission.

"Okay, we're all here now so let's discuss the plan to stop the gym teacher's lecherous ways, okay?" the discipline master initiated the meeting by saying this.  
Takeshi and Junpei agreed with him, and gave suggestions to track this lecherous teacher down.  
"The next possible time that he will strike is tomorrow during gym class. That teacher is teaching the girls in Year 1 Class 3 tomorrow morning." The discipline master explained the situation.  
"But that's… Tomomi-san's class…!" excalimed Takeshi.  
"Do you know any person there?" Junpei asked in concern.  
"I only know that Tomomi-san has a friend named Tatsuma Aiko because she just looked for me before I came here." Takeshi explained. "And I highly believe that this Aiko person might be in the same class as her."  
"According to my records…" the discipline master said to Takeshi. "…the student named Tatsuma Aiko is also in Year 1 Class 3."  
"So what we need to do is to watch out for the two girls, right?" Junpei asked the discipline master of the school.  
"Yes." The discipline master replied Junpei's query. "I strongly believe that these two are his most likely targets."

The next day, all the girls from Year 1 Class 3 have changed into gym attire and prepares to do their warm up excercises. The sky at this time is clear except for some rain clouds hovering. (Author's note: I will try to make the situation similar to Chapter 115 of the original manga so that the main characters can have the opportunity to stop the lecherous teacher's lewd actions)

"I believe it might rain today…" one female student told her friend.  
"…but I forgot to bring my umbrella to school." Her friend answered back in response.

"Stop talking and start excercising!" the teacher in charge commanded. "Especially those jumping movements! Jump harder!"  
Aiko starts jumping harder, and her breasts keep bouncing up and down with the jumping.

Meanwhile, behind the bush several metres away, what happpened for the past few minutes were all recorded into Junpei's camcorder.

"So that's the teacher we're supposed to watch out for…" Junpei commented while filming. "I remember him doing the same stuff to Toujou five years ago."  
"How dare he do that to the innocent girls…!" Takeshi seemed furious while his blades kept vibrating.  
"Stop your noise-making! You'll alert him!" Junpei asks Takeshi to shut up.  
"You can stop my mouth but you can't stop my blades!" Takeshi retorted back.  
Then Takeshi takes out his walkie-talkie to communicate to the discipline master who is in another classroom.  
"Sir! We have spotted the lecherous teacher at the running track area." Takeshi reported in a low volume.  
"Have you captured the act so that we can use it against him?" the discipline master at the other end asked.  
"We got the footage, sir." Takeshi reported back.

At the running track where the girls are, Aiko's friend Tomomi and the rest of the girls are disgusted at what Aiko's doing.  
"This is so disgusting, that teacher wants to see Aiko's breasts bounce…!" Tomomi said while performing a puking action.  
"Too bad Tatsuma-san's too innocent to know this…" Tomomi's friend added to her statement.

Then all of a sudden, the gray clouds gathered in numbers and it rained soon after. But the teacher told them to keep on moving, and their bras is exposed through their white gym shirts soon after the rain intensifies. The guys of Year 1 Class 3 and the gym teacher are looking at them in delight and this made Takeshi more furious then ever!

"Please give me permission to take him down!" Takeshi requested to stop the atrocities.  
"What?" Junpei was shocked at Takeshi's request. "How could you attack a teacher like that?"  
"He doesn't deserve to teach anyone when he's so lewd like that!" Takeshi barked back immediately.  
"Okay, I give you permission to stop him, but don't kill him, okay?" the discipline master gave his approval from the other end.  
"Understood!" Takeshi began drawing his KaiXuan Blades and starts to dash very quickly towards the lecherous teacher. Junpei stayed behind the bush and filmed the whole process.

"_Go Takeshi-kun, you're the star now…"_ thought Junpei as he continues filming.

When her friend turned around, she was surprised at the sound of extremely quick footsteps heading the way of the lecherous teacher. But as soon as she alerted the teacher, it was too late because the second the teacher turned to see what's happening Takeshi the Modern Battousai has already reached him and welding his KaiXuan Blades to perform the Phantom Cutter technique on the teacher.  
When Takeshi reappeared behind the lecherous teacher, the teacher is already immobilised. Then he fell the minute Takeshi keeps his blades back into their holders. This made an uproar among the girls at the scene.

"Look! The Modern Battousai…" Tomomi was amazed at his speed of attack.  
"I won't allow you to keep doing your lewd acts any longer!" Takeshi declared. "All girls go and find shelter and wait there till the rain stops!"

Having heard his message, the drenched girls quickly rushed for the sports complex. But as soon as they got there they faced a small open door. They realised that they'll have to get in by twos in order to go through the door and faced problems for everyone to go inside at the same time. A big squeeze is resulted and Aiko, who feels uneasy in big crowds, tries to find another entrance but to no avail. She then went through another door and realised that she went into a storeroom. This made her panic, but just then, the metal door opened outwards and Takeshi comes in.

"How come you're here?" Takeshi asks Aiko, whom he does not know her name.  
"Um… I tried to find another entrance into the school and got somehow lost…" Aiko replied fearfully for her safety.  
But just then, Takeshi saw Aiko's bra through her shirt by accident, and she immediately covered them as soon as she realised it, and Takeshi looked away.  
"Sorry…" Takeshi tries to apologize, and Aiko looks away, blushing.

This silence goes on for a few minutes, and the rain seems to have subsided a little. Takeshi asks her if she wants to go with him to find her classmates, and she agreed. So Takeshi takes out his walkie-talkie and tries to open the door to look at the condition outside. But suddenly, as he opens the metal door…

"**BANG!"  
**(effect: door smashed back with a loud sound)

The door is pushed back and Takeshi is knocked back and collides onto Aiko, who collides with the old rack inside facing her back, which caused everything there to fall down towards them before the two realised it. By the time it happened, both were crushed by the weight of the load that fell, with Aiko's front on top of Takeshi's back!

"Oww!" Takeshi cried as the combined weight of the heavy load and Aiko crushed on him. Aiko only felt the weight of the heavy load on her back, but does not feel so painful on the front with Takeshi's back as a cushion. Takeshi on the other hand felt the impact of the hard floor pressing on his front.

Outside the storeroom, three male students in gym attire are locking the metal door from the outside.

"Haha! Serves you right for not letting us see the girls' real beauty, Modern Battousai Kitahara! Now you can't get out of this door while we find the other girls! Hehe!" one of the male students sneered at the door and the other two laughed at it.

However, what the three students said was transmitted through the metal door into the walkie-talkie that Takeshi dropped inside the storeroom, and ended up in the ears of the discipline master on the other side. This made him worried immediately.  
"Kitahara! Kitahara! Speak to me! Where are you!" the discipline tries to reply back, but met with no reaponse on his side. In fact, by this time Takeshi is unconscious by the pain he suffered, and Aiko is also unconscious.

What will happen to the two of them, and who will save them from this entrapment?

Be sure to wait for Chapter 06 to be released on how they will escape this trap and take down the real culprits behind the door-smashing!

End of Chapter 05


	7. Volume 1 Chapter 6

Chapter 06 – Ten Minutes' Tension

Previously: Takeshi Kitahara's next task assigned by the discipline master is to take down a lecherous gym teacher who is trying to take advantage of the girls in Year 1 Class 3. Junpei worked with him to film down the act as evidence against the teacher, and Takeshi defeated the gym teacher in just one blow. As the girls ran for shelter, Aiko avoided the squeeze and ended up inside a storeroom. Takeshi went there and found her inside, so they waited for the rain to subside and they plan to run for the sports complex but the metal door was forcibly shut from the outside, knocking Takeshi and Aiko back, in which Aiko collided with the old rack inside, causing the rack to collapse and crush the both of them. Aiko was crushed by the weight of the old rack while Takeshi was squeezed horizontally between the combined weight of both Aiko and the old rack, and the hard floor. How will they get out of this mess? Read on to find out!

Inside the storeroom, Takeshi and Aiko are now unconscious, crushed by the weight of the old rack and its contents. The three guys that locked the door from the outside have left, and there is silence… only for a minute in which after that, Takeshi's eyebrow moved a little – signs that mean he is trying to wake up.  
When he tries to open his eyes again, his senses starts to come back to him bit by bit. As Takeshi has a relatively fast recovery rate, he managed to gain all his senses within a short period of time. After that he suddenly realizes that there is warmth on two large spots on his back, and he smells someone else's scent as well. Then he looked at his right as he is crushed with his face looking on his right, and saw black hair hanging down.

"_This must be where this smell comes from…"_ thought Takeshi as he sees the hair that seemingly doesn't belong to him. _"I remember that I collided with this girl I met here and something crushed the both of us, then I don't know what happened after that…"_

Then he feels a head on the back of his right shoulder.

"_This must be the girl that I collided with…!"_ Takeshi continued thinking. _"…then she must be…!"_

"Hey! Wake up!" Takeshi tries to shake his body in order to wake up Aiko, who is on top of him.  
He continued shaking until the Aiko's head starts to move slowly.  
"Uh…" Aiko let out a soft murmur before she starts to open her eyes and regain consciousness.  
"Are you okay?" Takeshi asks Aiko out of concern.  
"I guess so, but…" Aiko answers him, but as she realizes what was happening, she immediately blushes out of the blue.  
"What happened…?" Takeshi asks again. "How come I feel something warm on my back…"  
This made Aiko blush like a cherry!

"That's…" Aiko tries to find a definite answer, but is too embarassed to say it. "That's… my…"  
"……" Takeshi couldn't say anything, but had some idea what that was, which made him blush too!

"_How did we get into such a position like this…?"_ thought Takeshi after he realised it. _"No time for that! Now we must get out of this awful place and fast! Before the guys there take advantage of the girls in Year 1 Class 3!"_

Meanwhile, Junpei and the discipline master of Izumizaka High had rushed out of the disciplinary room to find Takeshi, leaving no stone unturned in order to find clues.  
"Takeshi-kun! Where are you!" Junpei cried desperately to look for his mentee.

Inside the storeroom, Takeshi and Aiko are still crushed underneath the old rack, but Takeshi is thinking of ideas to try and remove the rack and set them free.

"_I can't power-up here…!"_ thought Takeshi. _"If I do, everybody will know how different I am from them!"  
_"…_why couldn't I feel any anxiety when I'm with Kitahara-san…?"_ Aiko thought about at the same time.

Just then, Takeshi is pushing the floor in an attempt to push the whole weight of himself, Aiko and the old rack up.

"_If I had a little more power…!"_ thought Takeshi as he pushes the floor.

"Stop! Kitahara-san, stop!" Aiko suddenly asks Takeshi to stop pushing the floor. "You'll crush me in between this way!"  
Takeshi stopped pushing and Aiko heaved a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, the discipline master of the school keeps trying to contact Takeshi through his walkie-talkie. What he said went through his end and ended up transmitted out of the walkie-talkie in the storeroom which has been there for minutes. Takeshi tries to reach for it, but it is too far for him even to get close. Aiko saw this and was curious.  
"Why are you reaching there for, Kitahara-san?" Aiko asked.  
"My walkie-talkie is there…!" Takeshi answered as he desperately reach his hand in the direction of the communication device. "…if I can reach it…, maybe we can get out of here…!"

"_Even with my powers enabled, I must get myself out first before I can grab the walkie-talkie and tell them the location of this storeroom…!"_ thought Takeshi as he continues reaching for the device without avail.  
"_I don't feel that I wanted to get out of here…"_ Aiko thought as she is still stuck in between. _"…what I really feel is that I wanted to be like this for a little while longer…"_

Takeshi continued trying to reach for the walkie-talkie while Aiko continued thinking.

"…_but I can't just keep on like this for too long. I won't be able to move my legs if this continues…"_ Aiko thinks as she saw Takeshi trying to reach what that is called his rescue device. The walkie-talkie kept emitting out the voice of the school's discipline master for Takeshi's name.

"Stop trying to reach that thing! You won't accomplish anything this way." Aiko suddenly said to Takeshi, in which Takeshi stopped his movements.  
"But how are we going to contact anyone outside without us moving?" Takeshi asks her in return.  
"Um… the only way is… one of us must get out of this spot so that he or she can grab that device and find a way to get out of here…" Aiko replied nervously, fearing that it might not help the situation.  
However, this made Takeshi silent and deep in thought.

"What's wrong, Kitahara-san?" Aiko asks him out of concern, which shocked him.  
"How did you know my surname?" Takeshi changes his facial expression to a serious look, and said.  
"Um…" Aiko tries to search for words to explain this, but…

"_I can't tell him I've known him since middle school! Everyone will laugh at me…!"_ Aiko was thinking while trying to explain what Takeshi has asked her.

"Um… you know…? You're famous around here, right?" Aiko answers with a silly laugh, trying to escape the embarassing conversation. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Tatsuma Aiko, nice to meet you… in a situation like this…"  
But what she said made Takeshi think back to when he met Tomomi…

(from chapter 05)  
"_Do you know a person named Tatsuma Aiko?" Tomomi asked our protagionist.  
__Takeshi shook his head.  
_"_No idea." was his answer.  
_"_She's my friend since middle school, and knows about your dealings before you came here." Tomomi explained. "In fact, she knows you're quite famous for taking down bullies in your middle school days."_

"_So that's Tatsuma Aiko-san…"_ thought Takeshi. _"…she must've known things about me and what I did in middle school…"  
_"_But what am I supposed to do…?"_ he continued thinking. _"…if I don't save her, she might not want to tell me why she's tracking me all these years…!"  
_"_Looks like I have to get us out of here… even if I have to use my powers…!"_ he concluded in his mind.

"Okay, I need you to help me on one thing, Aiko-san." Takeshi asks for Aiko's help.  
"Um…okay." Aiko agreed, not knowing how she can help.  
Then Takeshi puts his right arm behind Aiko's back and near the metal rack.  
"I place my left arm in your hands, Aiko-san." Takeshi said in a soft tone. "I need you to guide my arm so that I can use my left hand to grab onto the rack that's crushing you."  
"Um… what do you want to do with your left hand?" Aiko asks curiously.  
"I'm going to use the strength of my arms to create two gaps; one gap is between me and the floor, another is between you and the metal rack." Takeshi explained his plan. "My right arm will push my body up while my left hand will push the rack further up so that you can get out first. If I have enough strength I can get myself out as well, then we can reach for the walkie-talkie and tell the other end where we are so that we can get out of here."  
This surprised Aiko.  
"Will… this… work…?" Aiko seemed worried while asking this question.  
"As far as I know… this is the only way to get free from the metal rack!" Takeshi replied seriously. "So… I need your help… on this one… okay?"  
These words by Takeshi is enough to touch Aiko's heart by now, in which she agreed to help him in response.

After a few minutes, they commenced the operation to get them free of the rack.  
Aiko holds Takeshi's wrist and guides him to her back while Takeshi reaches for the heavy rack.  
"…I feel ticklish…" Aiko giggled as she feels the back of his hand on her back.  
"Hang on, Aiko-san." Takeshi said while concentrating on grabbing the rack. "Just a little more and I can grab the side of the rack!"  
When Takeshi's left hand touches the side of the rack he immediately grabs it, and places his right hand firmly on the floor below his neck. Then he starts to exert force on both his arms to push both the rack and himself up little by little. But there's a disadvantage: As Takeshi pushes himself upwards Aiko's breasts pushed themselves harder on his back. Takeshi ignores what happened to his back and continues the attempt to free himself and Aiko.  
"When…I…have…pushed…enough…space…you…get…yourself…out…of…here…and…pass…the…walkie-talkie…to…me…!" Takeshi requested Aiko painstakingly as he pushes using his arms.

_"Please… give…me…more…power…!"_ Takeshi thinks as he said the words above.  
As he thinks of that, something deep within him starts to ignite, and the moment he opens his eyes, they turn blood red! This time Aiko starts to feel a strange power coming from within Takeshi.

"_Oh no! Don't tell me… that this is Kitahara-san's hidden power…?"_ Aiko thought as soon as she sensed the strange energy.

The pushing keeps on for about half a minute, until enough space has been created between Takeshi and Aiko.  
"Get…out…of…here…!" Takeshi said painstakingly to Aiko. "I…can't…hold…on…for…too…long…!"  
"Oh…okay!" Aiko agreed, and tries to slowly come out on her own.  
She finally managed to get out, but another problem arises out at this time while Takeshi keeps pushing the rack upwards. By the time it is high enough for him to stand on his knees, he turned and saw Aiko sitting there, seemingly unable to move.

"What happened?" Takeshi asks.  
"I… must've hurt my feet… while…I was being crushed then…" Aiko said painstakingly, feeling pain inside the joint near her feet. "I'm… sorry… I couldn't… help… you…"  
This made him a little frustrated, which he starts to move towards the walkie-talkie and releases his grip. The metal rack crashed down to the floor with a very loud thud! And this thud vibrated through the door and out of the storeroom in which it falls on the ears of both Junpei and the discipline master whom is near the sports complex.

"Hey, I've heard a loud sound…" Junpei said after hearing the sound made by the vibration.  
Then the walkie-talkie that the discipline master has starts to emit a voice.  
"Sir! Can you hear me?" the voice said from his walkie-talkie.  
The discipline master immediately responded to the voice.

"Kitahara-kun! Where are you? We've been so worried, you know?" he said over the device.  
"I finally got free and was trying to contact you." Takeshi said from the other end.  
"What? You got trapped?" Junpei spoke from the discipline master's walkie-talkie.  
"It's a long story. I'll talk about that later." Takeshi replied.  
"So where exactly are you?" the discipline master asked him again.  
"In one of the storerooms. There's a metal rack that crushed us before we got free." Takeshi responded.  
These information rung a bell within the discipline master's mind.  
"I know where Kitahara-kun is!" he alerted Junpei. "Follow me! There's only one storeroom with a metal rack inside!"

Junpei followed him round the exterior of the sports complex to a lone cubicle where its handle has been seemingly chained up.  
They immediately broke the chain amd opened the metal door.  
"The door is locked from the outside." Junpei commented as the discipline master opened the door.  
What they see inside shocked them!

"Takeshi-kun! What is going on?" Junpei exclaimed when he saw Takeshi inside with a girl on the floor. Also inside is a fallen metal rack.  
"What exactly happened?" the discipline master cannot believe that he had to save two people.  
At this time…

"Kitahara-san…?" Aiko seems forgotten by the three and calls out to Takeshi. "My legs… I couldn't walk when my legs are injured… so…"  
Takeshi was silent, and looked at Junpei and the discipline master, whom looked at each other without responding to his stare. So he went back and knelt down with his back facing Aiko.  
"Do…you…mind… carrying…a weak girl…like…me…?" Aiko said with her eyes about to cry.  
"Do you want to stay here until the end of the day?" Takeshi asks back at her, in which Aiko shook her head afterward. She then reached for his back and held his shoulders with her arms. Her chest pressed once again on his back just like the time they were crushed under the heavy metal rack. Takeshi held Aiko's thighs and carried her up, then walked out of the storeroom.  
Both Junpei and the discipline master watched in shock as Takeshi went out carrying Aiko on his back.

During the journey to the school clinic, Takeshi said nothing. But Aiko tries to start the conversation by asking about his arms.  
"Are you okay, Kitahara-san? It seems like your arms are injured…" Aiko asks Takeshi.  
"I'm not afraid of pain anyhow." Takeshi said in a low tone.  
This touched Aiko's heart once again.

"_I'm not sure if he has a liking for me, but I know that my feelings for him have grown deeper with this…"_ Aiko thought to herself while she was being piggy-backed by Takeshi all the way to the school clinic.  
"_I trust you, Kitahara-san…"_ she thought, and leaned her head onto Takeshi's without him realizing it!

When they arrived at the clinic, Takeshi placed her on the white-coloured bed and left the place.  
Fifteen minutes later, Tomomi came into the clinic to see her.

"Are you all right, Aiko?" Tomomi asks out of concern for her friend. "I heard that your legs are hurt somehow… and who carried you here?"  
"It's… Kitahara-san…" Aiko answered meekly.  
"What? That Modern Battousai carried you all the way here?" Tomomi said shockingly.  
What Aiko said almost made Tomomi scream after saying that.  
"Although I don't know much about him… but I understand that he has a kind soul inside him…" Aiko said with a little smile.  
"I don't know about that…" Tomomi sighs as she says this. "But I hope you won't get too involved with him, you know."  
However, these words came too late now. Aiko's feelings for Takeshi has somewhat grown to something more.

End of Chapter 06 and Book 1

Thoughts by Author: I am sad to say this is the end of Book 1. Quite a lot of events were connected to our main character Takeshi Kitahara. As I only started writing this fiction after I've finished reading the original Ichigo 100 manga, some of the events may resemble those found in the original manga. So I combined some events together and try to involve the main characters as much as possible. As for the ending of this chapter, I have to end it before it gets too long (the length of the chapters get longer as they are written…), so I have no choice but to end this chapter and book, after which I'll take a break from the fanfiction and concentrate on my studies. But I'll be back with Book 2 as I have lots of story ideas still inside my head! So _ja ne_ and wait for my new volume to be uploaded!


	8. Volume 2 Chapter 1

Chapter 07 – The Mediocre Transfer Student (Part One)

After the incident involving Takeshi and Aiko, it's back to peaceful times in Izumizaka High. Although everyone was talking about a teacher being shown the door by the principal. In Class 1-5, Takeshi is listening to music emitted from his notebook computer as it is during break time. The other students in his class are busy with their own stuff to notice him.  
All of a sudden, the screen in Takeshi's notebook computer showed a pop-up stating that he has a new e-mail message. Takeshi opens the message and finds a map with a cross on one of the chairs.

_"This seems like the classroom I'm in now…"_ Takeshi thinks as he analyses the map.

When he clicked the cross, it changes to the words 'Find Me!" in Japanese.  
Then he sees the header of the map which read: Year 1 Class 5 classroom plan.

_"So it is this classroom…"_ Takeshi thought. _"…but what is this supposed to mean…? Could it be…!"_

Takeshi traced the "Find Me!" words marked on the classroom plan with the table in the real classroom and when his eyes spotted the target person sitting on its chair, Takeshi's picture is taken by the target by a small device he held in his right hand. This infuriated Takeshi, who has thoughts of going to the target person's desk and confront him. But before he could do that, he got another e-mail message from the same person who sent him the map.  
The mail contained a photo of Takeshi (which was taken just now) and a small message below it. It read: I'm sorry I took your picture just now. I got your e-mail address from the discipline master before the start of today's lessons so don't feel shocked. It seems like you're more comfortable with this means of communication, so until you're ready to talk to me, I hope we can stay this kind of communication for now, okay?  
However, Takeshi continued to show his serious look and looks away from the target person. It seems like Takeshi doesn't want to talk to him.

Meanwhile, Aiko is looking at Takeshi from outside the classroom without his knowledge, worrying about whether he can make friends here; because if no one befriends Takeshi, she couldn't find any information about him at all!  
After the break, Class 1-3 is introduced a new transfer student named Kousei Tachibana, which wowed many girls in tha class as he is very good-looking. However, he didn't seem to care about them at first. But when he first set eyes on the idol of the class Aiko Tatsuma, he immediately went up to where she is and knelt with one knee on the ground.

"Dear Aiko-san, will you be my girlfriend?" Kousei asks in a gentle voice that wowed many girls in the class once again. "We are fated to meet and to be together always…"  
But this time, some of the guys in the class are showing their displeasure at Kousei.

"What are you trying to do to out class idol!" one of the guys asked with an angry tone. "You can't just have her as you please, you know!"  
"Are you serious in wanting her to be your girlfriend?" another student asks him with an annoyed tone. "If you are not, you should get your hands off her now!"  
"Of course I'm serious about her! That's precisely why I'm asking her out in the first place!" Kousei retorted the student back.  
But this has broken the hearts of the girls in the class. Some of them are seemingly crying because of this.

Meanwhile, Tomomi is watching the situation from where she is.

_"I wonder how she will react to this… she has never been asked out by any guy before…"_ Tomomi thought as she sees the situation unfold from her perspective.

"I…" Aiko tries to answer Kousei, who is waiting for her to reply back. "I… can't go out with you, Kousei-san."  
This shocked everyone in the class. But what she said next will send vibrations of horror through Class 1-3, especially the guys.  
"I… already have… someone I like…" Aiko said as her reason for her refusal.

_"What?"_ Tomomi thought as she hears Aiko's relevation. _"Don't tell me that the person is… 'him'?"_

After class, Tomomi went to see Aiko about what happened during class.

"What do you mean you have someone you like?" Tomomi asked, seemingly shocked by Aiko's relevation. "I just really hope it's not true, you know."  
Aiko just smiled and said: "It is true, so I can't have someone else in my heart anymore."  
Tomomi just hit her own head with her palm, showing displeasure to herself.

In the evening, Takeshi is walking out of the school compound towards the gate when he saw Junpei waving his hand at him there. Junpei asks if Takeshi can go with him, Takeshi reluctantly agreed after much coaxing by Junpei.  
As they arrived at the restaurant Junpei said: "I want you to meet someone." And sat down on one of the seats that faces each other. Suddenly, a young girl with golden hair, who is wearing a waitress suit, runs over to them.

"Hello! May I take your order please?" the girl cheerfully asked with a smile.  
Junpei looks happy to see her here.  
Takeshi looks at the menu and decides for a chocolate cheesecake and a chicken salad, but what Junpei asks for makes Takeshi feel weird.

"The usual, please." Junpei replied the waitress.  
"Yes, darling!" the girl smiled brilliantly and went into the kitchen.

When she left, Junpei turned to look at Takeshi. But what Takeshi's face showed was one of annoyance.  
"What is the meaning of this?" Takeshi said in a serious tone. "Why did she address you as 'darling'?"  
Junpei can only giggle shyly.  
"That's how she's like, you know." He answered, which made Takeshi very embarassed.

Twelve minutes later, the same waitress returned with the prepared food for Junpei and Takeshi.  
"Sorry to keep you waiting, but here you go!" she placed their ordered food on their table, then continued standing there, smiling.  
"Why is she still standing here?" Takeshi was surprised at the waitress's action.  
This alarmed Junpei, who hurried to say something.

"Oops! I forgot to introduce her to you, Takeshi. Takeshi, this waitress is Nishino Tsukasa." He aims his eyes at the waitress to introduce Tsukasa to Takeshi, which caught him by surprise!

_"What? Don't tell me she's that famous pastry chef who returned from Paris?"_ Takeshi thinks as he sees her waitress uniform. _"What the hell is she doing here serving customers?"_

"Um… why are you in a waitress uniform?" Takeshi asks Tsukasa.  
"Oh! I'm sorry I came out to meet you in this attire." Tsukasa said apologetically.  
"You mean… you're the one I'm supposed to meet today?" Takeshi asks in a shocked manner.  
"Yup!" Junpei answered Takeshi's question. "You mean you don't know that?"  
Tsukasa extended her hand to Takeshi, smiling.  
"Nice to meet you! My name is Nishino Tsukasa!" Tsukasa introduced herself.  
But Takeshi reluctantly tries to shake her hand, and when he finally grips her hand he suddenly squeezes it with all his power.

"OUCH! My hand!" Tsukasa cried in pain as her hand's being squeezed.  
"Takeshi-kun, what are you doing? Stop it!" Junpei pulls Takeshi's hand back after releasing it from Tsukasa's. "Sorry for the trouble, Nishino."  
"Uh… It's okay…" Tsukasa smiled embarassingly. "…I didn't know he is a shy person…"

After they have resumed to calm mode, Tsukasa sat down beside Junpei.

"So… why are you dressed like this?" Takeshi asks her in a serious tone.  
"Oh… I'm just helping the waitresses out." Tsukasa replied, followed by a giggle.  
"I didn't know you're serving customers, Nishino." Junpei interrupted their conversation. "I thought you're the boss here in charge of…"  
The words that just came out of Junpei's mouth alarmed Takeshi.

"You mean… she's the boss here?" Takeshi asks shockingly.  
This forced Junpei to cover his own mouth!

_"Oops! I told her not to tell him yet I leaked it out myself!"_ thought Junpei as he covers his mouth in shock.

Tsukasa just giggled at Junpei.  
"Don't worry Junpei. Isn't it an open secret that I'm in charge here?" Tsukasa asked. "How would it hurt if I tell one more person that I'm the lady boss?"  
Takeshi in the meantime was silent all this while.

"Hey, Takeshi-kun!" Tsukasa switched her attention onto her new guest in the restaurant and asked. "How do you think of my food? Is it okay for you?"  
Takeshi thinks about it for a while, and gave a seemingly convincing reply.  
"I think that the cheesecake could be a little better by using dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate. The only problem with this cheesecake is that it is somewhat too sweet for my liking. Perhaps it's just me that I don't like anything too sweet because it gives a illusion that life is a sweet one but in fact it is very tough and painful…" Takeshi said blantantly.

This worried Tsukasa.  
"Oh my!" Tsukasa said while covering her mouth with one hand, then changed to a seemingly worried face. "I didn't know you had sad experiences before you came here…"  
Then she noticed the KaiXuan Blades that was hung on both sides of Takeshi's waist.

"Um… what are these for…?" Tsukasa asked Takeshi, seemingly scared by the blades that he's carrying with him. "Aren't they… a little… dangerous…?"  
"Oh I forgot about these…" Junpei tries to speak in defence of Takeshi. "These are for his self-protection. He almost got killed at a very young age so he always carry his blades with him. He never uses them unless absolutely necessary."

However, Tsukasa still looked a little scared while sitting down beside Junpei.  
"You don't believe me, do you?" Junpei asked concerningly to her.  
"Okay, darling." Tsukasa resumed her smiling face, but what she said just now alarmed Takeshi.  
"Why do you call him by 'darling'?" Takeshi said in a serious tone.  
This surprised Tsukasa, who flashed a happy smile at him after that.  
"I have to get used to it you know." She replied. "…because we plan to get married next year!"  
This shocked Junpei out of his wits!

"What?" Junpei cried. "So soon? I thought you wanted to get married when your business becomes stable enough…?"  
"But I can't wait to be your beloved wife and take care of you, darling…" Tsukasa replied to Junpei in a very sexy voice.  
This will really going to make Takeshi puke, because he doesn't believe in true love at all!  
His reaction? He stood up and went to the gents without letting them know!

When they realised that Takeshi is missing, they start to panic and searched everywhere for him.

"Takeshi-kun! Takeshi-kun! Where are you?" Tsukasa cried out for our hero with a worried look on her face.

_"No way! He can go missing in this restaurant?"_ thought Junpei as he helps Tsukasa.  
Then suddenly…

"What are you guys doing in here!" a person came out of the Gents and stood there.  
When they turned around and saw the person, they rushed to him and tried to care for him.  
"Takeshi-kun! We were so worried! Where have you been?" Tsukasa carried a towel to dry Takeshi's hair.  
"Where are you just now, you made us so worried." Junpei also helped Tsukasa out while saying this.  
"I just went to the Gents." Takeshi replied their worries. "…and what makes you guys so worried?"  
Just at this time…

"Excuse me…" a female voice was heard saying. "…is there any seat for us…?"  
Tsukasa saw two high-school girls standing near the entrance of her restaurant and rushed to welcome them in. But the moment Takeshi raised his head to focus on the two girls who came into this place. He was in for a shock!  
"What? It's… you girls…?" Takeshi seems shocked.  
Both girls are equally shocked too!

"…Kitahara-san, Manaka-san…" the long-haired girl exclaimed, seeming to know the two guys.  
"Not you again, Kitahara?" the shorter-haired girl said with a little anguish on her face.  
"Um… you're…" Junpei asks the two girls.  
"Oh, sorry I forgot to introduce ourselves…" The long-haired girl replied. "My name is Tatsuma Aiko, and this is my friend Rinsen Tomomi. And I'm your fan, Manaka-san!"  
_"?"_ thought Tomomi, who didn't know (or simply forgot) that Aiko is a fan of Junpei's works.

However, as soon as Aiko's eyes are fixed on Takeshi who is beside him, she stopped moving herself.  
Both Takeshi and Aiko were speechless, but moments later Aiko moves her vision away from him with her face seemingly gone red.  
"What the heck are you doing?" Tomomi asked shockingly. "Why do you behave like that? Snap out of it!"  
Silence ensued. But it was Takeshi who first broke it.

"Why are you girls here anyway?" Takeshi asked Aiko and Tomomi in a serious tone.  
"Why do you mean we're here?" Tomomi argued back, but Aiko replied in a courteous way.  
"Um… we want to check out this restaurant which had just opened a few weeks ago and try the food there, and…" Aiko couldn't continue what she said when her eyes landed on Takeshi, but tries hard. "So… what brings you here…, Kitahara-san…?"  
"Junpei-san just dragged me here to meet his girlfriend." Takeshi replied back in his usual serious and calm manner. "I wonder what's up with him you know…"  
But as soon as Takeshi mentioned the word 'girlfriend', Aiko was stunned and "retreated" into her own mind about what she has been thinking of a fantasy she hopes that will come true…

In this dream Aiko was seen running towards a guy, and it is raining in that scene. She met him at the side of a street and carries a small box. She opens the box and shows it to the guy. Inside the box is a chocolate with the word 'Love' written on it. Then she says: "I hope we can go out together… because I like you." Then the fantasy ends right there.

"Aiko! Aiko! Wake up!" Tomomi kept shaking her out of her fantasy.  
This indeed woke Aiko back into reality.  
"What are you thinking!" Tomomi asked her best friend. "Don't tell me…?"  
"No way! That's not what I'm thinking right now." Aiko replied back (with some sweatdrops).  
Takeshi, Junpei and Tsukasa remained silent for a few seconds, until…

"Hello! Is there anyone here…?" a male voice cried out.  
Everybody went to the entrance and saw…

"…Kousei-san? Why are you here?" Aiko reacted first and asked with surprise.  
As soon as Kousei's eyes saw Aiko's cute face, his eyes become heart-shaped immediately!  
"Whoa!" Kousei rushed to Aiko and held her hand, which shocked everybody!  
"It must be fate! It must be fate! It must be fate that I will meet you here!" he declared.  
Before he could say further, Tomomi quickly seperated the two and said: "How could you hold Aiko's hand like that! Don't you like her because she's the class idol?"

This shocked everybody, including Takeshi and Junpei!  
"What do you mean by 'class idol'?" Tsukasa asked Tomomi.  
"Everybody at Izumisaka High knows that Aiko's the number one idol in her class, and maybe in the whole level too!" Tomomi confessed out what she knew.

Meanwhile, Takeshi is thinking about this situation deep in his mind.

_"Why the heck is everybody in her class going after this young girl…? Don't they have anything better to do?"_ he thought deeply.

What will he respond to this situation? Find out more in the next chapter!

Note: Because of the text formatting limitations used in I published the same story on another website: http/ . If you have difficulties reading the story here you can go to that website to read the same story in a more structured format. Thanks!


End file.
